Thursday, April 16, 2009

A Few of My Favorite Words

Ok, so I am sure that most of you have noticed that you sometimes have to enter a "word verification" to post a comment on another person's blog. Ticketmaster.com and a few other websites use this supposed "word verification," too. The problem with this practice is that just because a bunch of letters are stuck together, it does not make something a word. Like "rederec." Um, not a word. My question is, did they run out of real words to use due to the sheer volume of comments being posted on the blogosphere, or did they start making stuff up from the very beginning just for kicks?

I am sure that the answer to that question is probably very dull and involves something to do with random, computer generated sequences of letters. But I prefer to think that it is someone's full time job to come up with these "word verification" words. Maybe more than one person. Maybe somewhere in South Dakota or Nebraska there is an entire satellite office filled with employees who sit in front of computers all day just making stuff up. The walls are decorated with the alphabet in varying fonts and colors. They probably give awards for the "Best Word Thinker-Upper" of the month. Maybe the prize is a dictionary. Just to be funny. Maybe it's a really competitive field and only the best and brightest employees are chosen for this think-tank. And their true identities are protected to keep NASA from recruiting them. I'm not sure, but that's what I like to think.

At any rate, I am not sure that these WVS (Word Verification Specialists) rely on any outside information when they are choosing who wins the BWTU awards. But just in case they are, I thought I would post my top 5 favorite words and what they might possibly mean if they were, in fact, real words.

5. UNTRATUD: the opposite of tratud; or not to be tratud. Upon speaking to her, I noticed that she was completely untratud.No wondershe teases her hair up so high.

4. MOUNDO: an exceedingly large quantity or amount. I cannot believe the moundo piles of laundry that I have to do every week. Or My children have been moundo uncooperative this morning.3. GONFUZ: the wonderful feeling of smoothness that follows a long awaited shaving. I was pleased to find my husband gonfuz after weeks of him having a beard.2. SESTSYLL: the lesser-known sister of Dr. Jeckyll who functioned as his assistant. It was really Sestsyll who made the accidental discovery of the magic potion that transformed Dr. Jeckyll into Mr. Hyde. What she was actually trying to do was to make a potion that would cause Dr. Jeckyll to help more around the house. Despite the tragic results, it should be noted that she had some success. Although Mr. Hyde commited various atrocities, he was known to always leave behind an impeccably clean house. Although there are few that know the truth, Sestsyll is really to blame for the potion that created the infamous Mr. Hyde.1. IDGEFLUP: a momentary lapse in memory or in good judgement, also commonly known by the crasser expression "brain fart." I could not remember her name for the life of me, even though we had been introduced several times. It was a total and complete idgeflup.There it is, ladies and gentlemen, my five faves. Words that received an honorable mention in my list are sisiti, zosine, and jecavann (a caravan led by a Jedi?)P.S. If by any chance you know the truth about how these word verification words are created, don't tell me. It'll ruin the magic.

12 comments:

funny funny stuff. Did you notice sometimes you will get 2 words with a space between them? I think the words should go together or mean something. Really though the words are meant as secret code for sleeper agents inside the U.S.But to disguise their intent they began using them on almost every site. I bet some one with more time than me could research it and prove that they led to all manner of terrorist actions!!

At first, the blogger verifications were not even remotely wordlike. Then about 6 months ago they got even less so (if that was possible) and I could never pass the test, because it was usually a bunch of consonants stuck together. Then suddenly they became so word like you thought that maybe they could be words. Love your definitions! I've had some pretty funny ones, and some that are eerily like the post I just read. I want to know Blogger's secret, and I like your idea. I'm sure that they have people in a room coming up with some doozies. Or else looking through Balderdash cards.